Journalist Panagiotis Barkas, who was APE’s correspondent in Albania since 1995, is suing the management of the Athens News Agency (APE) for his dismissal after 28 years of work. The reaction from the Board of Directors of the Union of Daily Editors was immediate. of Athens Newspapers (ESHEAA) which issued on 1the March 2024 notice of protest against the non renewal of the contract of Panagiotis Barkas. ESIEA notes that it condemns the decision of the APE Administration not to renew the contract of the correspondent of the APE in Argyrokastro Panagiotis Barkas, “unfairly and abusively, after more than 20 years of cooperation”. In fact, he points out that he “strongly protests and declares that he will stand by his side” in any legal action to defend his labor rights.
In a letter of protest sent (February 8, 2024) to the president of APE Emilios Perdikaris, Panagiotis Barkas himself, who signs as a former member of the Omogenia parliament in Albania, journalist-writer, notes that it is the “red flag of anti-Hellenic Albanian nationalism” and that the decision to expel him from the APE serves political purposes and is connected to the Beleris case. In fact, he points out that the reasons for his dismissal were never explained to him.
It is characteristic that in an email sent to him by the president of APE Emilios Perdikaris he simply stated that together with his contract which ended on 31.12.2023 “our cooperation is also completed”, that APE is not proceeding with the conclusion of a new contract for 2024 and on behalf of the agency thanks him “for your cooperation and fruitful, long-term, fruitful contribution to the agency.” This was the answer he received when earlier, on January 18, 2024, Panagiotis Barkas had asked him for information on the renewal of his contract as APE correspondent for Albania for 2024, as he had addressed the competent service for the renewal of contracts, on 15.01.2024, and they informed him that there was an order from the president of APE not to proceed with the renewal procedures of his contract. “They also told me that they cannot know the reasons for which, they told me, I will receive official information from the RES management. I am not receiving this update, despite my efforts to contact you,” she wrote to him.
Panagiotis Barkas officially asked the administration to explain the reasons for this decision, stressing that during his 28-year career at APE, he often received “congratulations because in the difficult Albanian reality I conveyed the news and responses in a timely, professional and perceptive manner, often revealing realities that were not they seemed, but with importance for Greece”. He also emphasizes that “many times, due to the impact of my news about Albania through APE in Greece and being a member of the National Greek Minority in Albania and with intense activity in the Albanian media in defense of Hellenism, I received and am receiving threats from the most extreme ».
The journalist insists on an official explanation for his dismissal and considers that “there was a political finger”. In fact, Panagiotis Barkas informed Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis with a letter, as well as high-ranking government officials (Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis, Deputy Foreign Minister for Public Diplomacy and Hellenism Abroad Giorgos Kotsiras, Government Spokesman Pavlos Marinakis). In this letter he emphasizes that “in this decision there is a political finger of individuals in the governmental and party environment. This is not an exaggeration. But for a reprimand, in the form of revenge, against an EU executive. A minority with an eminent work for the benefit of Hellenism, because he does not obey their line, has a different point of view and dares to articulate speech and make revelations of facts that are at the expense of Northern Mainland Hellenism”.
And he adds: “At the same time, they are indifferent to the fact that in this way they are hurting the kind of nervous Hellenism in Albania, the few cadres who believe in democracy and fight for its national rights, that they are discouraging and disappointing Hellenism and allowing it to seek a way out protection in the Albanian reality”.
It is worth pointing out that Panagiotis Barkas is also president and associate professor at the Department of Greek Language, Literature and Greek Culture at the University of Argyrokastro, which, as he notes, is “the only university institution that Hellenism has at the service of education in its mother tongue of the National Greek Minority with a prominent academic position, rich publishing work, rising cultural activity”.
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